Folder for pressure bags



May 10,' 1927.

W. F. IRRGANG FOLDER FOR PRESSURE BAGS M w W W Filed July 22, 1926 a?WY. F. RRGANG 9 FOLDER'FOR PRESSURE-BAGS Filed July 22, 1926 2Sheets-Sheet? QN R. Q H M t N n 10\ I .1 u u r 3 J mx 3 m \w x x 4 mm NM\\M 8 hax, 1 V MN. M :KN Q. a I V x w R 3 Q E w x t f A m fi a Q mm! Mv. N M! Patented May 10, 1927.

. Lea/377a WILLIAM F. IRRGANG, or OHICOPEE, MAssAonnsnrrs, ASSIGNOR rrotrim IS RUB- BER COMPANY, or oi-rroornn rams,- MASSACHUSETTS, noonronarron .OF.1VASSA- CHUSETTS.

FOLDER iron PRESS RE BAGS.

Application filed m 22, 1926. Serial No. 124,195.

This invention relates to devices for folding pressure bagsfor insertioninpneuniatic tire casings prior to vulcanization It has for one objectto avoid undue strain links are pivoted at 35 to a second pair of linksBehaving bearings at '37 in bracket-3S attached to the pedestal.EXtend-ing betweeneaoh pair of the'links-ilti -at a point on the innerperiphery of-the ba-g during Slightly above the pivot 35 are rods '39,carthe folding'operation'. It has for a further object to decrease thetotal overall width of the folded bag so 'that'the insertion of the baginto a tire casing is made easier.

Referring to the" drawings, 1

Fig.1 is a front elevation of an apparatus constructed in accorda-ncewith my invention; I

Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation corresponding to Fig. 2, but showing'a bagfolded and released; Fig. 4 is a front elevation similar to Fig. 1, butshowingthe bag-partially folded; and Fig. 5 is aview similar to Fig. 4,but showing the bag completely folded.

The apparatus is supported on a pedestal 10, which for a major portionof its height is furnished with ways 11' in which slide a cross-head 12and a sliding arm 13. The cross-head 12 is reciprocated verticallybymeans of a piston rod 14 attached at its bottom end to a piston 15runningin 'apneumatic cylinder 16. A pipe 17' is attach'ed'to the topand a pipe '18 to the bottom'of this cylinder, air being admitted toeither one or' the other of these pipes through a valve 19 from anair-line 20. 7

The sliding arm 13 is held by a threaded ro'd21 having a collar 22 andhandwheel 23 fii'redto it. The rod is threaded-into the upper side oft-heslidin-g armand' slides freely through a lug 24 attached to the topof the pedestal l0. Attached to thebottom of the sliding arm 13 isa stud25securedin placeby'a nut 26. i

The cross-head 12 carries rollers 27 which giiideiti'n the ways' ll,andal'sdcarries a rod 28 upon which is mounted a-curved-plat-e 29."Slideable transversely in the cross-head 12 is a rod 30 carrying at itsfront enda plate 31 upon which are mounted pins 32. These pins operateupon the airbag in a mannerwhich will be described below.

Attached by'pi'ns-33*-to the cross-head 12 are a pair of links 84a't-e'a'ch side of the center line of the pedestal. ,This construc: tionis best shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The

ryin g-at'their front'end' rolls 40 having acentral grooved portion '41.Each of thelinks 36-carries aiporti'on 42 acting as a stopabutting-againstthe side of thepedestalas' shown in-Fig. l and in *Fig.5 to prevent motion of'the linlrsbe'yond the point desired";

The rod 304s reciprocated' transversely of the cross head42 bymechanismswhicl'r'will now be described. Upon the top ofthe-crosshead'12 is'anarm43 to which-is pivoted a depending link 44 having a slot-45=at its lower end. Running in this slot is a pin 46 position by nuts 54.As the cross-head ascends the pin 47 rides, under the upper end: of theangle irons-48, the angle irons yielding slightly during this motion andfinally dropping below th'epin 4'7. As the the cross-head; the pin 47bears against the,

a rail 50, so thatithe rod 30 is positivelyforced to the left as viewedin Fig. 2. Thisaction permits the pins -82tobe projected for engagementwith an "airbag during the upward stroke of't'hecross head and towithdraw from contact witlr the airbag during the downward'st'roke.

In addition to'the parts of the machine already described, mention maybe madeof twoorthree parts which serve toguide or positioi'rthe airbagor tire being worked upon; Fastened tothe 'curvedplate'29 is adepeiidingguard 55' which serves to prevent the airbag being V drawn to i theright in-Figi: 2-when the'pin's 32 are being withdrawn from contact withit by the mechanism just described. Upon rods 39 are secross-h'eaddescends the pin 47 will run down i cured fingers 56 preferably securedin place by collars 57 having set screws 58. These fingers serve toposition a tire which is placed around the airbag. Projecting from thesliding arm 13'is a bracekt carrying a saddle 59 upon which the airbaghangs during the operation.

Figs. 1 2, and 3 show in dotted line the position of a pressure bag asit is placed on the machine for being folded. In this position thecross-head 12 is at its lowermost position and the sliding arm 13 hangslikewise in its lowermost position with the collar 22 preventing furtherdownward movement. Assuming the bag to have been placed upon the machineand to be hanging from the saddle 59, the air valve 19 is turned so asto admit air under pressure to enter through pipe 18 into the bottomofthe pneumatic cylinder 16. This causes the cross-head 12 to be raisedand brings the parts into the position of Fig. 4, which representsmerely a stage of transition. The parts do not stop in the position ofFig. l, but continue to that of Fig. 5, which represents the completelyfolded bag. Between the position of Fig. 4 and that of Fig. 5 the rod 28contacts with the bottom of the stud 25 raising the arm 13 from theposition of Fig. 4 to that of Fig. 5. The purpose of this movement willbe pointed out below. With the bag folded as shown in Fig. 5 the tirecasing which usually has been expanded from flat form into tire form isplaced around it, the valve 19 again operated to cause the cross-head 12to descend and the bag to be thus straightened out inside the tirecasing.

Bag folding devices of the general type described herein have beenproposed previously, and my invention deals primarily with threefeatures of the device described. The first of these is the use of thespaced pair of pins 32 as will be seen in Fig. 5. The use of spaced pinsproduces a gradual bend in the inner periphery of the pressure bag. Inprior devices the bending of the bag at this point was caused by asingle pin or by a relatively narrow plate. I have found that by the useof spaced pins as described only a slight stretching of the innerperiphery of the bag will result, which is desirable on account of thetendency of the bag to break at this point if over-stretched.

The second feature is the position of the rollers 40 at a point spacedfrom the pivot 35. It will be noted that the rod 39 supports the rolls40 mounted upon the links 36 at a point above pivot 35, whichconstruction is of use in securing the smallest possible overallcircumference of the folded bag without causing undue buckling at anypoint. The location of the rollers at this point serves to prevent theside of the bag ext-ending too far laterally as viewed in Fig. 5.

The third feature is the vertical movement provided for in the arm 13.The vertical movement of this arm draws the bag upwardly as viewed inFig. 5 and causes a narrowing of the overall width of the folded bag. Ifthis feature were not used the bag would look somewhat more squatty thanin this figure, and would extend sideways a considerably furtherdistance.

Having described my invention, 1 claim:

1. In a machine for folding pressure bags for insertion in a tire casinga pair of spaced pins adapted to engage the outer periphery of the bag,a pair of folding devises adapted to engage the inner periphery of thebag at points spaced from the pins, and means for moving the foldingdevices and the pins relatively to each other, whereby the foldingdevices are caused to move outwardly around the pins to fold the bagaround the same.

2. In a machine for folding pressure bags for insertion in a tirecasing, means for pro ducing a re-entrant bend in the bag, and means forstretching the opposite side of the bag away from the bend to cause anarrowing of the overall width of the folded bag.

3. In a machine for folding pressure bags for insertion in a tire casinga vertically movable cross-head, a vertically movable member having alimited movement, means for raising the cross-head means of causing themember to partake of a limited movement together with the cross-head,devices carried by the cross-head for engagin the outer periphery of thebag, means for folding the bag around such devices, and means carried bysaid member for engaging the inner periphery of the bag at a pointopposite to the devices, allconstructed and arranged to cause are-entrant bend to be made in the bag and to cause the side of the bagopposite the bend to be stretched away from the bend.

4. In a machine for folding pressure bags for insertion in a tirecasing, a slideway, a device movable in the slideway for engaging theouter periphery of the bag, opposed pairs of links pivoted together andhaving the other end of one of the links pivoted to the said device andthe other end of the other link to the slideway, and rollers forengaging the inner periphery of the bag, said rollers being located uponthose links which are pivoted to the slideway at points spaced from thepivots joinin the two links.

WILLIXM r. IRRGANG.

